Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Passport control for Non-Native English speaker

Hi!

I asked CX but the answer is a bit canned so I would like to ask if you would know more.

The schedule make me hard to goto HK to travel with my Mum. She don't speak English and will be travelling CX in F. will the FA normally kind enough to help her to go through passport control? She hold a UK passport going into LHR.. but just need someone to translate those typical "Why,When,etc"questions...

Thanks!

If she's on F and has a UK passport, just get a fast-track invitation during the flight, go to the EU/UK queue and flash the passport photo page. Most of the time, you won't even have to stand still when going through Passport Control...

This is a pretty common occurance in LHR... (i.e. non-English speaking individuals). I've seen the FAs help fill out landing cards on the plane, so this should take care of most routine issues. To the extent the inspector wishes to question your mom more thoroughly, I'm sure they have ready access to a Cantonese speaking translator.

Sorry for the confusion.. it is a BN(O) UK passport of which UK insanefully doesn't consider the holder a UK/EU national.. I've been asked to join the queue of visitors before. (it is also insane that a UK passport holder don't speak English anyway, but this is what the history left behind).

Good to know the FA will help fill out the card...



[This message has been edited by HK-UMICH (edited Nov 21, 2003).]

Ask your travel agent or CX to request a Meet and Greet Service to accompany your mum through immigration services.

Or else if all fails, tell them you need a WCHR. Yes its a Wheelchair... and then you're guaranteed that someone will be there.

With a PINK Fast Track form, she will be going through the 'faster' lane and not the usual.

Thanks all for the replies!

I just order the service for my Mum.. the agent can even specifly to request an staff who speaks cantonese!

I love CX even more now!

I've been on CX to LHR many times... many of the passengers don't speak a word of English. The immigration officers seem to be pretty good humoured about it, assuming all the documents are in order. LHR gets a lot of non-English speaking passengers and the immigration agents seem, IMHO, a lot more understanding than your typical U.S. immigration inspector.

Sorry that a bit off topic..

That's why my Mum say OK to fly alone to UK but "threaten" not to go for my graduation if I am not physically crossing the US boarder with her!

She've been kind of insulted by the US consulate in HK and got really pissed off.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by HKG_Flyer1:
...LHR gets a lot of non-English speaking passengers and the immigration agents seem, IMHO, a lot more understanding than your typical U.S. immigration inspector.</font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by HK-UMICH:
Sorry that a bit off topic..

That's why my Mum say OK to fly alone to UK but "threaten" not to go for my graduation if I am not physically crossing the US boarder with her!

She've been kind of insulted by the US consulate in HK and got really pissed off.

</font>

Interestingly, the one time I visited the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong, I felt awkward, as it seemed that the counter staff treated the non U.S. citizens in a less than friendly manner, while being overly polite towards me (a U.S. citizen).